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Photo of the DayQuiz Time AgainDecember 15 - It's photo quiz time again. Rock our world by identifying this famous sailing port. We can't think of anywhere in the world where a marina is so close to a major airport. And no, it's not Marina del Rey. |
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December 15 - Port of Spain, Trinidad
| What's with the folks in this photo? Way back
in 1991, cruisers Rich and Carol of Nomaer (left) and Lois and
Merle of 'Interlude', were tied up at the Trinidad YC club. Like
everyone else on the island in February, they got all dressed
up for Carnival. What's Carnival? It's the the final festivity before the commencement of the austere month and a half of Lent. The historical origin of carnival is obscure, but possibly has its roots in a primitive festival honoring the beginning of the new year and the rebirth of nature - although it is also possible that the beginnings of carnival in Italy may be linked to the pagan Saturnalian festival of ancient Rome. Although practiced in many different countries around the world, this festival takes on a distinctly Caribbean flavor in Trinidad, which hosts the Mother of all Caribbean Carnivals. Beginning with J'ouvert on the Sunday night before Ash Wednesday, the streets of Port of Spain, the capital city, fill with jubilant celebrants. J'ouvert is infamous for the appearance of large carts of mud, which participants fling all over themselves and each other. Throughout the days of celebration, large trucks carrying bands playing soca music, or steel pan orchestras, drive slowly through the streets with costumed dancers following behind. People from all over the Caribbean pour in to listen to music, dance, drink, and enjoy the height of madness. Competitions for best band, best costume, best calypso and soca songs, best steel orchestra, etc., are also held during the festival. Near midnight on Tuesday, the religious observances begin for many, as Ash Wednesday signals the beginning of Lent and a significantly more subdued lifestyle. |
 Rich and Carol of Nomaer and Lois and Merle of Interlude sported 'oil spill' costumes for the '91 Carnival.  A typical local's Carnival costume The height of Carnival in Trinidad in 2001 will be February 26-27. Don't miss it! Say, does anybody know where the crews of 'Nomaer' and 'Interlude are now'? |
December 15 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' - at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
December 15 - North Atlantic Ocean
Was the radical Adrian Thompson designed 120-foot wave piercing
catamaran 'Team Phillips' - that Pete Goss and his six crew chose
to abandon Sunday on the stormy North Atlantic - a design failure?
At a news conference after arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard
a German container ship, Goss told reporters that just the opposite
was true. He said that the Force 12 winds and apartment house
sized waves from conflicting directions were as bad as anything
he'd seen in the Southern Ocean, and that were it not for the
great design, he and his crew would have never made it. Despite
having struck both sails and dragging all their lines and sea
anchors, they were still hitting up to 29 knots and having to
steer for their lives. Goss also said that at times they had a
bow wave off the boat's central pod - which is normally 17 feet
above sea level. Having been in everything from flat calm to Force
12, Goss used the word "brilliant" to describe the design.
What happens to 'Team Phillips' now? Part of her port bow was
knocked off as a result of slamming into the container ship during
the rescue, and one of her masts slapped against the ship, so
it may be damaged also. Basically, the condition of the boat -
which is valued at millions of dollars - is unknown. There have
been rumors of private salvage attempts, but such attempts present
major problems: First, the boat is more than 600 miles from land
in terrible sea conditions that aren't expected to improve significantly
for a week, and second, the lightning fast boat might be impossible
to tow. Historically, salvage vessels haven't had much luck bringing
in large multihulls.
For more information, see Tim Jeffery's interview with Goss for
Quokka Sailing at http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/12/SLQ_1214_goss_WFC.html,
as well as Jeffery's and Philip Delves Broughton's report for
Sport Telegraph at http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2000/12/14/soyot15.xml.
December 15 - On The Race Circuit
 Photo by Dave Giles/Team Legato/PPL This just in, the first photos of Tony Bullimore's 'Team Legato'
entry for The Race. Until very recently, Brit Tony Bullimore
was considered a longshot to get the necessary funding to stretch
the old 'ENZA' to 102 feet and get her a new rig to be halfway
competitive. It didn't happen until nearly the very end, but
Legato of Silicon Valley finally came |
December 15 - Pacific Ocean
To see what the winds are like on the Bay and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/.
Looking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican border? Here's the place - which has further links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/stuff/southwest/swstmap.shtml.
You can view the University of Hawaii Department of Meteorology satellite picture by clicking here.
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you might check at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.
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